


cornerstones

by sixverba



Series: together, we dance [1]
Category: League of Legends
Genre: Alternate Universe - Blood Moon, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-04 18:57:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17903681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sixverba/pseuds/sixverba
Summary: “Am I worthy?” echoes a voice, thick and sultry but entirely too hard to grasp.“No,” Akali growls. “None of you are.”





	cornerstones

**Author's Note:**

> unbeta'd, there's probably a bunch of mistakes in there that my 4am brain didn't catch, but hopefully they don't impede the story too much!  
> thanks for reading :-)

“You’re awfully loud.”

Blood drips from a still-beating heart in her hand, crawling down her arm and coming to a rest in a slowly-forming pool under her arm. Her mouth stops its descent; her teeth remain momentarily outstretched for a bite. She lowers her hand and lets her head fall slightly, as if she is admitting defeat to the individual that has caught her red-handed — literally.

Behind her stands a figure, shrouded by the shadows of the trees but outlined by the moonlight that filters through the leaves. Their face is cloaked by an antlered mask carved from aspen wood, decorated with auburn and turquoise highlights. A calloused hand rises to push the mask onto the top of their head.

A smirk dances on her lips.

“So are you.”

Under the eerie red glow of the night, twin lavender blue talons make themselves known under the figure’s chin and above their heart.

The demon turns her head, her eyes half-lidded, and pierces the heart with her nails.

“What is a priestess like yourself doing here?” Evelynn inquires, voice dripping with something akin to venom, something similar to lust. Blood runs down her arm at an increased pace. Out of the corner of her eye, she watches the heart cease its mindless beating, and proceeds to tear a chunk off for herself to eat.

Snow crunches underneath the priestess’ feet. She drops the brilliant blue kunai, leaving it sticking out of the ground. The other weapon — a kama crafted of the same cerulean mineral — falls onto the snow as well. Silently, Evelynn commends the girl’s unflinching demeanour, even as her lashers creep closer and closer to the other’s throat and heart.

“I could say the same for a demon like yourself.”

Icy blue eyes narrow; emerald green eyes harden.

Evelynn’s eyes, though, begin to crease in amusement when the priestess kneels down in front of her, head bowed. The action is awkward and blatantly forced. She can’t help but smile, laugh a little when the priestess looks up, brows furrowed in annoyance, and notices the bemused expression she wears.

“My, my,” she purrs, flashing bloodstained teeth. She rises to her feet and turns to face the kneeled form of the girl, hand still clutching the heart. “What a well-mannered little _dog_ you are.”

The reaction is instantaneous: the priestess shoots upwards, snarling, and snatches the kunai beside her to press it against the demon’s throat. Her teeth are bared, eyes alight with a ferocity — a will to thrive, to triumph and prosper — so intense that, for a moment, the world seems to come to a stop and Evelynn finds herself caught off-guard.

She, however, is always prepared.

Just before the blade touches her neck, Evelynn grabs the offending arm and holds it in place. A surprised look briefly flashes across the girl’s face, but it’s quickly replaced by the previous expression of anger. She pushes against her, but her grasp is firm, grip unrelenting. This only appears to frustrates the priestess further. She tries to pull Evelynn’s wrist away with her free hand, but without warning the demon’s fingers are curled around her neck, nails pressing uncomfortably into her skin. Immediately, she attempts to wrench the hand away; again, the hold is unyielding.

A nail finds its way to the priestess’ lower lip. The girl visibly flinches, still struggling against her hold but still relentless. Evelynn tilts her head slightly, a smirk pulling at the edges of her mouth. From behind, her lashers curl around them, pulling the two closer and closer together until she can feel the girl’s heart pounding against her chest.

“Aren’t you an interesting one,” Evelynn hums, her hand effortlessly crawling up to caress the side of her face despite the resistance the girl exerts. Her other hand forces the priestess’ hand to move to the right, before she presses down hard on a spot just above the wrist. The priestess winces from the pain, but eventually the kunai falls from her grip. Her glare grows harsher. Despite the circumstances that she’s in, she still continues to fight back against Evelynn’s hold.

“I could —” the demon murmurs, leaning in close enough that she can feel the other’s breath ghost down her lips. “— just eat you all up…” Evelynn lets out a laugh when she watches the haze settle over the girl’s expression, melting away the wrinkles of her vexation. Subconsciously, her lashers unfurl from around them, returning to their original position on the ground. Her struggling begins to cease...at first.

Again, Evelynn finds herself amazed when the priestess somehow wrestles herself away from her, nearly tripping over her feet but successfully removing herself from the demon’s grasp. She’s breathing heavily, knees bent, and grabbing her head with one hand. Her other hand searches for a weapon behind her with sharp, frantic swipes. Eventually, her hand hits against the handle of her kama. She quickly grabs it and points it at the demon, but her resolute demeanour is ruined by her shaking arm.

“Cursed allure,” the priestess hisses, eyes narrowed. The tip of her kama hits the ground when her legs start to tremble. “I’m — I’m not your enemy.”

“Oh, I know, darling,” Evelynn coos, feigning a pitying expression. In reality, however, she’s incredibly intrigued by this girl; she’s never had someone resist her charm in any degree. She’s had a couple of humans who’ve been able to see through her guise, but her power had always been enough to consume them in the end. Although the priestess is clearly struggling to even stay on her feet, Evelynn finds it impressive that she’s not grovelling beneath her feet right now, _begging_.

Of course, she knows that this is no simple priestess: she's heard of this girl’s name in passing, whispered quietly among mortal villagers, through clusters of lesser evils. Akali may only be a priestess of the Blood Moon, but she's regarded highly among the clan of the aforementioned demons. Her powers are supposedly unrivalled by the other members of the cult — they say that she is the first (and possibly only) to speak to the Blood Moon itself, a feat that should have liquidated her mind. And yet, here the legend is, albeit with limbs entwined in her web.

 _How far can she heel?_ Evelynn absentmindedly thinks to herself, watching the girl’s body slowly get heavier and heavier. Curiosity gets the best of her. She tilts her head to the side and watches her charm send Akali to one knee. Yet, despite the fact that her whole body is now wavering, she still shows no sign of giving up. A twinge of annoyance shoots through Evelynn: why isn’t she succumbing to her yet?

Evelynn’s building irritation shows when she ramps up the power again and the girl _still_ doesn’t fall: a scowl appears and her eyes cloud with a faraway fury. She stalks forward, tails lashing agitatedly behind her and claws curling in on themselves. She wills the charm to intensify, to tighten its hold, to grab this _pet_ by its throat and put it _down_ —

Suddenly, Akali leaps to her feet and swings her kama at her, eyes ablaze —

— but Evelynn’s already gone, just another phantom in the chilling, evening breeze.

Akali almost buckles over when she lands. Fortunately, she manages catches herself with her kama before hitting the ground. She pants, her mind a searing mess after that exchange, and wipes a bit of sweat from her forehead. For a moment, she stays there, listening to her breathing slowly return to a normal pace, watching her vision clear up.

“Am I _worthy?_ ” echoes a voice, thick and sultry but entirely too hard to grasp.

Eyes narrowing, she soon notices the blood on her sleeve. Although the fabric is near-black, it’s not dark enough to hide the faint, copper handprint that stains it. Scowling, Akali wipes off whatever hasn’t yet soaked through. Then, she moves to grab her kunai from off the ground beside her, dusting off the snow with her clean sleeve.

Just as she begins walking, Akali feels something warm and wet hit the front of her feet. She looks down and screws her eyes up, partially in disgust but mostly in complete and utter exasperation. When she does open her eyes, she swears she sees the glint of a lavender blade.

“No,” Akali growls, glaring at the crushed heart, dropped and forgotten during the middle of their encounter. The grip on her kunai and kama tighten. She wipes the flecks of blue blood off her cheek with the back of her hand. “None of you are.”

Taking a few steps back, Akali grabs one of her old, spare kunais from her case and throws it hard enough that her wrist hurts afterwards. The blade pierces the heart right through the center.

She turns around and walks in the opposite direction.

* * *

The next time they meet, it’s Evelynn who stumbles upon Akali. The priestess is sitting in front of a small fire, warming her hands up in front of it as her clothes dry behind it. She’s bare except for the cloth that is wrapped around her chest, a pair of dark grey trousers, and her black tabi. Water drips from her hair, which is tied up and somehow partially retaining its spiky look despite being wet.

Akali sensed the demon’s presence a while ago. She doesn’t flinch when she hears her voice call out: “A little bit lonely, don’t you think?”

She doesn’t say anything, only stretches her arms above her head, only listens to the branches crunch as the demon walks forward and appears in the corner of her right eye. With a vacant expression, Akali watches Evelynn slide off her sandals before seating herself on the grey futon. A spark of annoyance erupts in her, but she quickly stomps that feeling down into the crevices of her mind.

Trying her best to ignore how the demon has just waltzed into her camp, Akali leans over to grab her kunai, a washcloth, and a jar of water that has been sitting by the fire. She dips the cloth into the warm water and starts cleaning the layer of grime off of her blade.

Her skin crawls; she knows the demon is just staring at her, trying to evoke a reaction of some sort out of her. Unfortunately for her, Akali is incredibly stubborn and refuses to reward her with any sort of satisfaction from this. She’s endured much worse than this stupid, lowly demon and her dumb, childish actions — she should be able to withstand this, right?

Fortunately for the demon, Akali’s short temper overrules her stubbornness. Soon, the priestess is turning to glare at her, the knuckles on her hand turning white from gripping the kunai so hard. “What do you want?”

The demon has the audacity to _laugh_ in front of her. As much as she tries to control her emotions, Akali can’t help the surge of aggravation that suddenly courses through her. She really wants to silence this demon right now, but memories of her last attempt to do so remind her of her still-stinging failure. Instead, she tries her best to channel her anger into cleaning her kunai.

“I have questions, and you have answers,” the demon responds, smiling. She rests her arms and her chin on the log that Akali’s sitting on. “Nothing more, nothing less. Do be a dear and answer them for me, alright?”

“Will that make you go away faster?” Akali retorts. Her once-measured wipes have become wayward sweeps, and she nearly cuts the base of her hand with one of them. She curses under her breath, mild embarrassment flooding her cheeks at the idea of potentially making a fool of herself in front of this demon.

(But why should she care?)

Vaguely, she notices the brow that’s raised at her, and she almost lets out a growl in response. Much to her chagrin, the demon tilts her head and rests a hand on the side of Akali’s thigh. It takes all of her willpower to not impale the hand through the center with her kunai.

“It’s only, what, two or three questions?”

“ _Fine_ ,” Akali snaps out behind clenched teeth. She shoves the hand off her leg (which is accompanied by that rather _infuriating_ giggle), drops the washcloth in the water, and pushes the jar to the side. Then, she bends over to grab her satchel and pull out a leather-bound package. Her stomach grumbles slightly, but thankfully the demon doesn’t comment on the noise. She unwraps it to reveal strips of dried, smoked deer meat. With as much classiness as a dead frog, Akali grabs a piece and starts to eat, chewing loudly. The demon wrinkles her nose slightly, but doesn’t say or do much else.

There’s a few seconds of silence before the demon starts talking. “Answer my first question.”

“And, pray tell, what was it again?” Akali says through a mouthful of meat, her tone snarky. She smiles internally when she notices the flash of irritation that passes by the demon’s face.

“Why the isolation?”

The priestess sighs through her nose. “I don’t like this question. Choose a different one.”

“What?” the demon almost shrieks, surprised and angry at the same time. “I never said you could do that!”

“I’m the one answering,” Akali responds with a dead look in her eyes, but secretly she’s wallowing in the indignation that radiates from the demon. She wraps the meat back up and drops it back into her bag. Then, she rummages around for a moment until her hand emerges with a waterskin. Slowly, she uncaps it, takes a few sips, and sighs, content. She could almost laugh at the unamused expression the demon now wears. “So, I get to make the rules.”

“Alright,” she growls, eyes narrowing in annoyance. Her claws are slowly digging themselves into the bark of the log. “What really happened when the Blood Moon paid you a visit?”

Akali visibly tenses before she forces herself to relax. “I’m not answering this one either.”

“You _insufferable_ little - ugh, _fine_ , what questions will you —”

“I’d be careful with your wording here,” Akali states, a devious look crawling onto her face. “You can only ask one more question.”

Instantly, the demon’s hand is at her throat, claws pressing quite painfully into her neck this time. Her eyes are burning with an ice-cold light; tendrils of smoke rise from the back of her head. One of Akali’s hand extends upward to try and grapple with the hand that’s clasped around her neck, but her hold is solid.

“I would be careful with your wording here, _girl_ ,” the demon hisses, her grip getting tighter and tighter with each passing second. “Have you forgotten about where you stand? Or has the fame rotted all common sense in your brain?”

“Y-you —” Akali croaks out, now wincing from the pain of her throat being slowly constricted. “— sh...should r-remember your...pl...place t-too.”

The demon looks down after Akali presses the edge of her kunai against the mark on her chest. Akali would be relishing in the genuinely shocked expression that she receives, but her slowly-diminishing supply of oxygen is more of a concern here. Luckily, her little act is enough to force the demon to drop her. She falls onto the ground, landing on her right shoulder painfully. One hand immediately shoots to her throat, rubbing at the bruises that are beginning to form. Coughs and deep inhales wrack her body for almost a minute.

A laugh sounds in the air. “You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?”

Akali can’t muster much more than a nod of her head as she tries to catch her breath. She slowly pushes herself upright, supporting herself with her free but shaky arm. It takes another few minutes, but she manages to calm herself down enough to look at the demon. She’s moved back to her spot on the futon, staring at her nails.

Huffing, Akali pulls herself up into a sitting position, and leans her head and her back against the log. She stares up at the sky, shrouded by clouds except for a circle that reveals the moon. It’s not quite full just yet; half of it is hidden in the shadow of the earth. The other half, though, illuminates much of the sky and the open area around her with a gentle glow.

“Am I worthy, yet?”

She snorts. “Hardly.”

The demon shuffles around a bit. Akali turns her head to the right to stare at her. She’s back in her original position, chin resting on her arms and arms resting on the log. “Why not?”

“That’s four questions, now,” Akali replies, voice still a little hoarse. Her gaze moves to the fire that’s several feet in front of her, which still crackles with heat.

“You should reconsider, then.”

“Why?”

“Maybe I’ll answer a few of _your_ questions.” She tilts her head, eyes brimming with cunningness.

Akali scoffs. “Don’t you remember? I want you out of here as fast as possible.”

“That’s not what your heart is telling me, darling.”

Again, her body freezes; she’s admittedly a bit curious about the demon’s identity, but Akali blames that on her intrinsic curiousity.

(At least, that’s what she tells herself, anyway.)

She shrugs and sighs too sharply, and a couple of coughs tumble out of her. “Fine,” Akali says. She pulls her legs closer to her body, and rests one arm on her knees. “I look for several things in a potential partner: raw strength and skills are two of them. However, what I primarily look for are areas that I’m weak in, but the other excels in.” Her head turns to look at her kunai, which rests on the ground to her right, and then her kama, which leans against the log on her left side. “I need someone that compliments my set of skills, but I also need my skills to compliment theirs.”

“So — what skills do you desire?”

Akali’s mouth opens, but before she can say anything, she sees a shadow in the corner of her eye, the glint of a silver blade, and a flash of cornflower blue claws —

The body of a man drops down in front of her, narrowly missing the fire and her feet. A dark liquid begins to pool around him. Akali has already leapt to her feet, kunai in one hand and her kama held tightly in the other.

Two more forms emerge from the shadows, both wielding ruby-coloured weapons — one with a shortsword, and the other with twin daggers. She doesn’t even need to look to know that the demon is already heading towards the one closest to her — the one with the sword — so Akali quickly moves into position to fight the one with the daggers.

When she stalks forward, she’s surprised that she hasn’t noticed the twin crimson horns that peak out from its fur. To be fair, the horns are tiny and almost blend in with the copper-red colour of its mane. Despite the revelation, Akali doesn’t hesitate to move first with a swing of her kama — which the demon blocks immediately with his blades — before using that momentum to push herself up and over. She lands behind it and immediately drops the shroud around herself.

Before it can even realize what’s going on, smoke clouds its vision. Obscured by the shadows, Akali makes quick and precise strikes from all angles. The demon can barely guard against her attacks, and takes multiple slashes to its chest and back. Eventually, it roars and swings its daggers around itself. She manages to block the blow with her kunai, but she underestimates the force of its swing and trips backwards towards the fire.

Her kama falls from her grip in the process. She lands just a feet away from the flames, feeling the intense heat lash against her back. Akali immediately pushes herself to her feet, but a mixture of her previous attacks and of what occurred earlier has left her rather lightheaded and out of breath.

She avoids a downward slash and leaps away from the fire, towards her kama. However, she stumbles and almost loses her footing. The demon takes this opportunity to slam the hilt of its blades against her shoulder, which she just barely blocks with her kunai. Again, the attack almost knocks Akali off her feet, leaving her staggering backwards on unsteady legs. Annoyed at her sudden weakness, she dives forward to uppercut the the demon, but her movements are becoming sloppier as the seconds go by.

It blocks her swing and shoves her away with a gloved hand. This time, Akali falls to the ground. She curses at herself mentally — why did she let her guard down now? Hell, why did she even let her guard down earlier? Her head is pounding; her vision is swimming. With gritted teeth, she forces herself to her feet and narrowly deflects two strikes of the demon’s daggers with her kunai. She successfully swipes at its exposed shoulder, but that only enrages the creature more. Its attacks become relentless, one slash after another. They slowly corral her in the direction of a nearby tree — before she knows it, the heel of her foot is scraping against bark.

The demon dives forward, daggers raised to slice downwards. Akali just barely manages to block it with her kunai, but it keeps trying to force its blades down, towards her chest. She has to push back against it with both hands. Subconsciously, she feels the edge of the kunai cutting into the bottom of her left palm. Her mind is starting to become foggy, her arms are feeling weaker and weaker, and she thinks she might actually fall here —

A lavender talon suddenly pierces through the demon’s chest, causing the demon to freeze and stop leaning its weight against her blade. She takes this opportunity to push the creature off of her and stab it right through its throat. The talon retracts before the body even hits the ground.

Akali is utterly spent: she slides down against the tree, not caring about the wood that scratches her back, and gasps for air. Her vision is vaguely fuzzy at the edges, and her head feels like someone is driving a nail into her skull, but she’s conscious and relatively unharmed and that’s all that matters to her.

A bloody hand extends itself to Akali. She looks up and notices the demon looking down at her, dark blue blood splattered across her cheek and staining portions of her dress. Her lashers linger in the air behind her, dripping.

“Evelynn,” the demon utters, breathless as well. Her expression may betray nothing but her eyes say it all.

With some hesitation, Akali grabs the hand and allows herself to be pulled to her feet. She immediately leans forward and rests her hands on her knees, one hand balled up into a fist and the other clenched around the handle of her kunai. She’s still trying to catch her breath.

“How about now?” the demon asks. When she looks up, Evelynn is smirking at her.

“That’s the sixth question,” Akali responds, still panting.

“Fifth, actually. You never responded to my original one.” Her eyes shine with a mischievous light. “Besides, I never said I wouldn’t have more.”

“And I never agreed to more.”

“Oh, boo, you’re no fun.” Evelynn reaches out to try and ruffle Akali’s hair with bloodstained claws.

Without a second thought, Akali immediately drives the kunai into the demon’s waist, but she disappears before the blade even touches her dress. Laughter rings throughout the air, leaving Akali more furious than she’s ever been in her entire life. She thrusts the kunai into the soft bark of the log behind her, roaring: “ _NO!_ ”

* * *

“Why won’t you tell me?”

Evelynn walks beside her, looking down at the priestess that’s stretching her hands behind her head. Her lashers hover above the ground, twitching with every stray noise that she hears. Akali’s eyes are closed; despite this, her movements and controlled and precise, even though she cannot visually see where her legs are taking her.

“I’ve already told you,” Akali says, eyes still shut. “We don’t compliment each other. You'd be a hindrance for my strengths.”

“Tell me the real reason,” Evelynn insists, ignoring the offhanded insult in exchange for tilting her head down to grab a better look at the girl. Even under the partial light of the moon, the red strokes under Akali’s eyes are still vivid and transfixing.

“That _is_ the real reason,” Akali responds smoothly, but Evelynn can see through that lie all too easily. All she does do is let out of a huff in response, tails whipping behind her in annoyance but staying put at their spot. Her eyes return to their duty of following the moving shadow, watching it swirl and weave between trees and circle around rocks, but never straying too far from its master’s side.

* * *

One night, Akali hears shuffling outside of her tent and darts out so fast, so quietly, that Evelynn receives another injury from her.

The kama has just sliced across the juncture between her neck and her shoulder when Akali realizes her mistake. She immediately drops the weapon and rushes to the demon’s side. A pale blue liquor drips from the wound, but it’s fortunately not very deep.

“Here I am, trying to help keep watch over you,” Evelynn teases when she sees Akali return. She allows her to press a wet cloth to her neck, and shivers slightly when she feels how cold it is. “And this is what I get in return?” A devilish look enters her eyes. “Remind me to get caught by you more often, dear.”

Akali’s face scrunches up in disgust. “Shouldn’t you be asleep?” Akali asks, pointedly looking at anything but the inquisitive expression that Evelynn now dons. “Don’t you ever get tired?”

“Everyone is suffering, darling,” she responds, gazing up at her with something Akali doesn’t dare to label as ‘softness’. “I don’t have to walk far to find a good meal. Some days, I don’t even have to walk at all.”

Akali scoffs and shakes her head, but she continues applying pressure to the cut as she searches for the gauze with her free hand. Eventually, her hand bumps against the cloth roll in her bag. She pulls it out, rips off a sizeable strip with her teeth, and folds it several times. Then, she replaces the cloth with it, tossing the stained fabric to the side. Again, she searches through her satchel until her fingers close around the roll of medical tape. She tears a piece off at a time and flattens it across the edges of the bandage, until all four sides are taped down.

Evelynn stays quiet the entire time — she simply watches her with an expression that Akali can’t quite read. As she puts away the materials, however, the demon pipes up: “You didn’t have to do this for me.”

She closes her bag. “Why not? I wounded you by mistake — shouldn’t I help patch you up?”

The demon laughs that laugh of hers in that sickly sweet tone. It makes Akali shrink away slightly, her skin crawling and her mind spinning. “I think you may have forgotten that I am not human.”

It is so utterly ridiculous that Evelynn can make Akali act this way: frozen in spot, eyes wide, and at least the tips of her ears turning red.

“Don’t you still bleed?” Akali shoots back, in an attempt to regain some degree of control in this conversation. She fully turns her head away to make sure that the demon cannot see her most-definitely flushed expression.

She chuckles. “My blood is rather thick.” Akali’s lips have just parted, about to ask a question, when Evelynn continues talking. “So, it looks like I bleed a lot when in reality, it’s not much. Besides — I heal fast, too. A wound this minor will be gone in the morning.”

Akali’s definitely having a hard time fighting the embarrassment down now. She leans to her right to grab the cloth from off the ground, pointedly ignoring how she feels the demon’s gaze intensify. Stiffly, she gets up and walks toward her jar of water. She removes the lid and dunks the washcloth in the water several times. A pastel blue leaks from the fabric and into the water, dyeing the waters a translucent violet-blue shade.

“But,” Evelynn speaks up suddenly, and her voice sounds like it’s definitely a lot closer than it was before. Akali notices the encroaching shadow and looks up to see the demon standing in front of her. She kneels down on one knee and freezes Akali in place again. “I appreciate the thought.” Her claws drift dangerously towards the side of her face, ghosting across faint yellowish bruises on her neck. One nail crawls further, resting right on the mark under her eye, but Akali does nothing to move away from the hand.

* * *

“Tell me,” Evelynn insists, during another night, lingering in the air but never truly appearing.

“I already have,” Akali lies.

 _But who is she lying to?_ Evelynn wonders.

* * *

“ _Hēi lóng_ ,” Evelynn says out loud, and Akali nearly sends her kunai soaring in her direction. “The name doesn’t roll off the tongue smoothly.”

Akali breathes heavily, attempting to steel herself for the oncoming wave of anger that’s about to consume her. She tightens her grip on her weapons, and continues to slide forward, trying her best to ignore the demon that effortlessly stands on the ruined window ledge in front of her.

The bottom of her sandals just barely graze against a crumbling section of stone, but the slight pressure is enough to send some rocks tumbling down. They hit the ground with distinct taps. Akali almost swears out loud, knowing that her mission could have possibly been ruined and that she should just take the direct approach now, but a finger pressed itself over her lips.

She turns her head to glare at Evelynn, standing in her way, who mockingly whispers, “ _Shh._ ”

Then, the demon points to her right. Before Akali can even send her a questioning gaze, Evelynn slips away into the shade within the blink of an eye. Groaning internally, she’s just about to leap down onto the ground when she sighs, and eventually decides to trust the demon’s judgement. She shimmies along the edge slowly, still moving forward. For whatever reason, her steps feel lighter for the remainder of the way.

She quickly notices a small, poorly disguised hole in the wall that’s been filled in with loose bricks and chunks of dried cement. Carefully, she pulls out the pieces of cement before removing the stone bricks. The hole is just wide enough for her to enter, and Akali drops onto the dusty ground without a noise.

For a moment, she closes her eyes and thinks. _Two on the left, one on the right_ , she notes to herself. Akali pulls the mask down to cover her face, and starts heading towards the left.

It’s not difficult for her to take down two uncoordinated grunts (at least when she’s uninjured), so it’s definitely not an issue for her to take just one of them down. However, when she arrives at the right corridor, Evelynn’s standing above the body of what should be a man, licking her claws clean and tails waving behind her in a seemingly excited manner.

“What?” she asks when she finally notices Akali’s exasperated expression. “I got tired of waiting.”

Akali ignores her and starts moving forward.

“I was a little hungry, too,” Evelynn chirps when she walks right past her. She follows with footsteps so light that Akali doesn’t even think she’s touching the floor. “Your kills are so quick, so clean — there’s not much to feast on, there.”

She slips into the shadow of the next room, and effortlessly slits the throat of the two individuals waiting at the end of the hallway.

“I always leave the hearts intact for you,” Akali remarks, after she withdraws the kama from the girl’s throat.

“It’s like —” Evelynn begins, twirling around to stand behind the priestess, who feigns a nonchalant demeanour as best as she can. “— giving me food without any seasoning. It’s bland, tasteless — I'm not going to eat it.”

“Picky,” she responds, flicking her kama to the side and spraying blood over the ground. “Remind me to not be kind again.”

This evokes a laugh out of the demon, and Akali almost curses out loud. Before she can make a witty comment, Akali's already slipping out of the room and focusing her mind on the next set of paths. She finds nothing of interest, so she continues to walk down the passage with quick steps.

“Running now, are we?” Evelynn taunts, and although she’s had to suffer through so much of this tormenting already, Akali still feels her temper spike to an absurd degree. Again, she finds herself struggling to contain her anger, and to not physically lash out at the demon again.

Akali opens the door and is immediately faced with three guards. Two of them charge at her, while the other starts to turn around and sprint in the direction of the other door. She sees Evelynn sizing up the runner, about to go chase him herself, but the demon’s stopped by a kunai being thrown with such a force that everyone in the room can hear it split through the guard’s spine with a sickening _crunch_.

As such, Evelynn chooses to simply watch Akali dance around the two guards in her shroud. She makes quick work of these two, cutting them down before they can even shout for help.

“You won’t find much sustenance with me,” Akali mutters when she's done, removing her kama from one of the guard’s waist with a wet noise. She passes by Evelynn without a second glance, only stopping to bend down and extract her kunai from the groaning boy. The demon lets out another one of her incredibly frustrating giggles.

The door to the next room opens, and Akali releases a sigh of relief when she realizes that she’s finally gotten to her destination. She walks up to the pedestal, holding in a breath, and snaps open the wooden box.

Disappointment floods through her. She reaches into the box and pulls out a mask no larger than her hand. Two wicked red horns curve upward, its crimson colour extending downwards to curl right underneath two beady, glowing blue eyes, but the ivory mask is relatively plain. Akali curses, silently, at the idea of having to raid another temple.

“Oh, but _darling_ ,” the demon sings. Akali turns to face Evelynn, who’s now standing on the step below her, but still somehow taller than her. Evelynn takes the hand holding the mask, and raises it to rest them at her temple, on her right side, just below where a golden horn extends from it. “Just being near you is enough to satisfy me.” When she drops her hand, the mask stays fixed to her head, as if by some sort of magic.

“They should really call you ‘ _Xiǎo lóng_ ,’” she notes. Her nails trail down the side of her face, so light that she could mistake it for a ghost’s touch. “It sounds much better, flows much better, _fits_ you much better — you’re all bark and no bite.”

Evelynn disappears with the mask into smoke, laughter in the air, and Akali wants to _scream_.

* * *

All members of the Blood Moon seek out demons that will accept them, that will give them the opportunity of becoming one to embrace the oncoming darkness of the world. It is this desire that creates the foundation of this cult, that propels its members forward day by day. To refuse such an overture, if granted to them, is considered to be incredibly disrespectful. But, all humans carry an innate drive to be the best; it is understandable, though still frowned upon, if one refutes the powers of a puny demon. Pride is an important thing to the Blood Moon, and to be rejected by a _mortal_ of all things is the greatest insult of them all.

As such, if this does happen, the cultist is killed the following day by the demon that gave the offer, one of the assassins of the cult, or perhaps even by the Blood Moon itself. The latter of the three is the most uncommon, of course. Such an occurrence is usually reserved for tricky individuals that have hidden themselves away, in an attempt to escape their inevitable demise, with hopes of finding a stronger beast for themselves to tame. Unfortunately for them, the Blood Moon sees all, and their deaths are almost always the most painful…

...at least, for all except one.

Many have heard of this priestess’ unnatural power, and wanted to claim it for their own. But, when the first dared to step forth with their offer — a tiny thing not much stronger than your average huntsman — Akali refused the offer without sparing even a glance at the demon. When two others came the next day, they were turned down with a distasteful gaze. When a demon decorated in the jewels of their victim’s flesh, a demon that radiated an arrogance that forced surrounding demons to kneel, came to _her_ , she turned her back and left without even uttering a word.

(That demon was found dead next day, when it tried to pursue her with an invitation of death.)

Unlike others, however, she didn’t run; she stood under the open night, unarmed and unmasked, waiting for the Blood Moon to come to her. The demons could not surpass her shroud no matter how hard they tried; the assassins found no fun in murdering prey that would not flee from them, nor victims that would not cry out in agony.

Akali kneeled, in the open courtyard where the moonlight shone the strongest, and waited — thinking, meditating, _taunting_.

The outrage that fell around her was enough to uproot plants, bushes, and some withering old trees, but Akali stayed firmly put on the ground. The only indication that she wasn’t a statue was how her garbs fluttered in the storm erratically, how her hair whipped around wildly to become a mess of ebony and crimson streaks in the quickly-darkening skies.

Nothing was brave enough to insult the Blood Moon, for that would surely bring upon something worse than death. Still, here Akali was, expression completely blank despite the chaos that rushed around her. It was almost as if she was daring the Blood Moon to come forth and battle her.

Stones flew by. One dug itself into her face, right below her eye, leaving a streak of blood that slowly trailed down her cheek. Another did the same, but underneath her other eye. The wounds burned with a sort of pain unattainable by a simple scrape. They were more than just cuts — they were a challenge, an acceptance of her dare, to test her and see if she was worthy.

The storm raged endlessly for four days, unabating and only ever growing in size. Anyone that even tried to go near it got swept off their feet and dragged into the vortex.

When it finally ceased, the only thing that survived its carnage was Akali, still kneeling in the middle of the field. Her clothes were almost pristine, as if new; her body was relatively unharmed. The only things that changed about her were the two red marks that now rested under the corners of each eye, and the steel resolve that began to bloom in her gaze.

No one knows what truly happened. Akali refused to comment on what occurred, instead choosing to leave and isolate herself in the woods. Those who were present, watching the chaos unfold with wide eyes, went mad — they claimed to have heard whispers, utterings of an old language, laced with heavy accents and brittle syllables. Others, watching from a much safer distance, saw the outline of the moon in the gales, but also the shadow of an ancient dragon. One claimed to have seen feathered wings of white and gold, curved bronze horns, and vibrant red eyes that sparked with malevolence. He claimed that this beast was the cause the storm, that these were the signs of the progenitor, the rancorous darkness himself.

Regardless of what truly occurred, everyone was certain of one thing, at least: the Blood Moon spoke to Akali, and Akali came out alive.

Even in her absence, Akali was heralded as a legend. Rumours emerged, stating that she was a chosen one, and she would be the one to usher in a greater era for the Blood Moon clan. Tales of her powers were manipulated to sound grandiose, to the point where she was given the name of _Hēi lóng_ — black dragon. This name was chosen in reference to the eastern dragon some insisted they saw during the storm, surging around the glow of the moon as if the two were fighting.

As days turned into months, and months turned into years, much of the cult realized that Akali would not be coming back. Though her ambitions would always be remembered, what seemed to be her abandonment of the Blood Moon left a bitter taste in many of the cultists’ mouths. She was never formally exiled, per se; a great deal of the clan simply refused to be associated with her. Eventually, her tale melded together with other stories of the cult, and the fact that the _Hēi lóng_ had been — and still is — a real person was forgotten by most mortals.

Within the realm of the demons, however, she became one of the many individuals that the demons would dream to become one with. Prior to her, no one had ever challenged the Blood Moon and gotten out alive, much less unscathed. And, although she hadn’t left without marks symbolizing the event (as demonstrated by the swipes of blood that permanently stained her cheeks now), the fact that she still walked the land of mortals made her that much of a desirable host.

Even though it was generally known that Akali has turned down every single demon that sought her out, it didn’t stop the majority of them from trying. All of them — ranging from the lowest of the low to the greatest of the great — would find her newest hideaway and extend to her an offer of supposed eminence. And as always, they would all be turned down and left with shattered prides. Those that dared to raise their powers against her would never be heard from again.

Some say that the priestess’ true desire is to become one with the Blood Moon itself. They say that she isolated herself to further hone her skills, in order to impress the Blood Moon enough that such an anonymity would consider unifying itself with her. Others — _most_ — say that she just has not found a worthy candidate yet. It is this shard of hope that still drives many of the newer, younger demons to try their luck with her.

Whatever the case may be, Akali still walks the earth in her own flesh, and the demons still want that body for their own.

* * *

Evelynn’s not sure when she started following the girl around, nor can she exactly remember the reason why she did it. She tries to argue with herself, claiming that the girl reeks of so much unresolved despair that simply standing beside her is enough to sate her hunger. Being near her is all she needs to do; she doesn’t ever have to go search, hunt, and charm another soul again. It’s the quiet, tireless life she so desires. The girl’s company is just a bonus, a mortal to keep her company as she waits for the end to come.

Even in her head, she can’t believe her own words. So she tries a different approach: she wants this girl — the _Hēi lóng —_  to be hers. As arrogant as Evelynn may be, she can’t deny the fact that the girl possesses extraordinary powers of her own. That shroud is unbelievably oppressive — she doesn’t even understand how the girl herself can see through that thick, suffocating smoke. Her proficiency with her kama and kunai are also both unique and impressive, not to mention her stealth and fighting technique; Evelynn can still feel the prickles of pain, on her cheek and her neck, from where the girl has nicked her from before.

 _I can’t fool myself_ , Evelynn thinks bitterly, staring down at Akali’s resting face, eyes shut tightly and her maroon-tipped hair loose, spread underneath her cheek after being undone from its hair tie.

Still, she tries to think. _When did I decide to stay? Why did I decide to stay? Where was I when I made the decision? What was I doing? What..._

Her eyes shift downward, gazing at the two swipes of red under Akali’s eyes.

_...When did I start thinking of her by her name?_

_Why did I refer to her by her name? Why do I keep calling her by her name? How has she not berated me for doing so? Have I even spoken her name out loud, yet? When did she become so calm about all of this? Why is she so relaxed around me? Why does she allow me to touch her? When did I start noticing these things? When did I notice these marks? When did I realize that they were dried blood, from the Blood Moon itself? Why do I know this? What am I doing? Why am I —_

“Mmmm…” Akali mumbles, shifting on her futon. She screws her eyes for a moment before they blink open blearily. “...Eve?”  
  
Her heart flutters. “...Akali.” The name feels foreign but oh so _perfect_ on her tongue, more tasteful than any heart she’s ever devoured before, more appetizing than any mortal misery she’s feasted on in her lifetime.

THe girl makes another noise, a mix between a whine and a grumble. Her eyes flicker close. “..Stop...stop thinking so much.” She lets out a huff through her nose. “No point...no point in questions th...that can’t be solved.”

Akali rolls over, back now facing her, and that’s when Evelynn finds all the answers to all her problems.

* * *

_This is the fourth sactumn I’ve tried,_ she thinks angrily to herself, furrowed brows hidden away by the mask that covers her face. _If this one doesn’t have what I’ve been looking for, I swear I’ll —_

“Don’t frown so much — you’ll get wrinkles.”

Akali sighs, resists the urge to push up her mask and rub her face, and continues padding forward. She stays on the balls of her feet, trying her best to focus and not pay attention to the demon and her presence and the smooth talon that slowly creeps up the side of her —

“ _Evelynn_ ,” she hisses, kicking aside the lasher. “I’m trying to focus.”

“But I’m right here,” the demon responds, laughing when Akali lets out a noise of frustration.

“Why bother sneaking in —” Evelynn begins, dancing around to stop in front of Akali. She pauses and glares up at her, but her irritation is still concealed by her mask. “— when I can just slip in and out for you?”

Without a response, Akali walks around Evelynn and continues her stride forward. This doesn’t dissuade Evelynn — no, if anything, it encourages her to keep pressing and prodding, until she finds the right buttons for her taste. And that’s exactly what she does: before Akali even enters the next room, she has already disappeared and effortlessly killed the two acolytes that stood guard in there.

When she does enter, Evelynn’s expecting to hear a growl of displeasure, a biting remark, anything remotely _threatening_ —

— but all Akali does is sigh, again, and continue forward.

Now she’s just bored. Killing is fun and all, but if it’s done without a genuine goal in mind, then it’s hardly anything worth staying around for. Still, she stays, no longer physical but in the air, simply watching with a curious gaze. She floats, sitting just around Akali’s shoulder, her presence not quite suffocating but definitely noticeable. Akali doesn’t do anything except continue walking, continue killing, continue whatever little mission that she’s currently on right now.

The trek has been so uneventful that Evelynn almost finds herself falling asleep. However, the clicking and turning of gears and the whine of a heavy metal door grabs her attention again, and she materializes from behind Akali with an attentive gaze. Akali, on the other hand, pushes the door slowly until the opening is big enough for the both of them to slip through.

When they enter, they’re both a little stunned by the display. In front of them stands a large glass box, seated on stone steps that lead down to a small pond underneath it. Water trickles down from a source in the ceiling; the light that shines from the opening is so bright that neither of them can look without their eyes hurting. Candles begin from the entrance of the room, starting as small little discs, and grow upward into posts that hold bright tapers dripping with wax. The taller ones surround the box, casting its light to reveal shelves lined with dusty, leather-bound books. Despite the warm, orange glow of the room, the glass reflects an azure blue colour similar to that of her blades.

Behind it stands a mural of an eastern dragon, curling and twisting its lengthy form up and around the canvas. Charcoal scales line its form, with vermillion red ones decorating its underside. Golden antlered horns extend from its wrinkled head, matching crooked teeth protruding from its parted jaws. A disheveled mane begins at its chin and stops right behind its horns. The same fur crawls down the beast’s back, starting from the nape of its neck.

In the middle of the painting are two symbols, stacked on top of each other: 黑龙 — _black dragon_.

 _This is mine,_ Akali thinks to herself, though the words taste sour in her mind. She steps forward onto the maroon carpet that leads to the case. _This was meant for me_.

“Why did you run?”

Evelynn’s voice shatters the deafening silence of the room.

Akali turns to look at her, standing in the shadows of the entrance, an inquisitive look in her eyes. “What?”  
  
“You ran,” Evelynn bluntly says, stepping forward into the light. The amber radiance of the room melts her chilling blue gaze. “You ran after that fight, after the Blood Moon came for you, after the strongest thing in the world didn't even defeat you, and you ran like a _coward_ —”

“ _I wasn’t afraid_ ,” Akali seethes. She pushes the mask onto the top of her head. Her sea green eyes blaze with a wrath that Evelynn has never seen before in her. “I didn’t _run_ like a _coward_ — I didn’t even run at _all_.”

“But you _did_ ,” Evelynn insists, walking closer and closer to Akali, lashers circling around them.

“ _I DIDN’T!_ ” she almost screams. The kunai in her grasp goes flying before it embeds itself in the peeling wood of a nearby bookcase. “I didn’t _run!_  I left — I left because it was too much! Do you know what I went through? Day by day, hunted by demons constantly, seeking me, wanting me —”

Akali throws her kama to the side, hands curling into themselves. “— and I could barely even speak when the first one came! Hungry, thirsting for my powers — I was left out to dry because _shouldn’t you be proud that you’ve been chosen at such a young age in your life? Shouldn’t this be what everyone wants?_ Power? Strength? Glory? Gods, what did I even want then — ?”

“I —” Her voice cracks. “I didn’t want any of this. This — this responsibility, this duty. I did what I wanted because I wanted to do it. I didn’t want what someone else gave me — I didn’t want hand-me-downs, I didn’t want freebies, I didn’t — I didn’t want _you_.” Her gaze is angry, sharp, drilling itself into Evelynn’s own but there’s absolutely not a single emotion that creeps onto her face. Akali pulls the mask off of the top of her head and stares at it, stares at its brittle horns and gaping mouth and empty little gaze.

“I didn’t want to run,” she whispers, her eyes narrowing at the mask. “I’ve been running for too much of my life.” She starts walking forward, away from Evelynn who only continues to stare at her with those piercing eyes, that unreadable expression.”

“I left all of them behind because I didn’t want to save them — I still _don’t_ want to,” she continues, her voice still low, splitting. Her feet stop when they get to the pool’s edge. She looks down and sees nothing but a reflection of someone she hasn’t seen in a long, long time.

“I ran because I needed to lose myself.”

Akali drops the mask into the pond, and watches it disappear, slowly, being consumed by whatever lurks in the water’s depths.

Evelynn’s sandals click against the ground. She doesn’t walk on the carpet; instead, she chooses to walk on the brittle stone underneath it. Akali watches Evelynn slowly amble towards her. She stops in front of her, staring, beckoning her to continue. Gradually, Akali climbs the few steps and takes one more towards the box. Her gaze hardens at the sight of the mask, resting on a bed of scarlet fabric: it is quite similar to her old one, with antlered horns and a pointed chin sculpted from silvery wood. This one, though, has amaranth and dirty gold markings painted over it, and a narrowed, knowing gaze in its thin eyes.

“But,” Akali finally says, drumming her fingers on the glass, still staring at that mask — _the_ mask. "I think I’m done running, now."

She turns to look up at Evelynn, standing beside her on jaded stone, and waits.

“So,” Evelynn inevitably murmurs. “What are we doing here, then?”

Akali’s eyelids fall shut, thinking.

“I’m finding a suitable mask for us,” she tries to joke, but the message doesn't seem to get through to her.

Instead, Evelynn’s expression softens so much to the point where Akali feels like she might melt from its warmth. “我的小龙……你好可爱啊……” she coos, voice delicate, and raises her hand to cup her cheek.

Akali bristles at the comment, blatantly tries her best and fails not to lean into her hand, and chooses to not say anything else.

(It isn’t really a joke anymore.)

(It never was to begin with.)

* * *

She sees them, lurking in the corners, with toothy grins and beady red eyes. They emit a tartness, a strong hubris, and a delightfulness that makes even _her_ uneasy, and when one of them steps forward, revealing itself ever so slightly in the mortal world, something in Evelynn snaps.

“ _GET AWAY FROM HER!_ ” Evelynn roars, voice warping and hissing, flickering in and out of shade. A dark, maroon aura rages around her in fits of wisps and waves, while her lashers thrash in the air behind her with a ferocity rivalled by only the harbinger of the Blood Moon. Her pupils are narrowed into slits; her eyes wide open as a harsh glow emanates from them.

Akali whips around, kunai raised and kama in hand. Her eyes dart from side to side, alert for any signs of an enemy, while her heart pounds loudly in her chest after being frightened by a tumultuous cry. All she finds, though, is Evelynn storming towards her, with a fervent look in her eyes, lashers halting their sharp movements and curling around to encompass the two.

“Eve —” Akali tries to speak, but she’s cut off when Evelynn abruptly grabs her face and turns it from side to side. The light from her eyes has subsided, but they still smolder with a sort of unbridled flame. Then, she takes hold of Akali’s shoulders with both hands, giving her a once-over, before brushing back her hair and clothes to reveal her neck — specifically, the back of her neck.

Immediately, she jerks back, raising her kunai is raised in defense. Both of them know that Akali would never dare touch a hair on Evelynn’s head, but the blade still lingers in the air. Regardless, she ignores it and reaches out for her again.

“Evelynn...” she warns, but her grip on the kunai falters. Evelynn effortlessly pushes the hand holding the blade down. She then tilts Akali’s chin upwards, ever so slightly, with her nail pressed against the girl’s lower lip.

“My _xi_ _ǎo lóng —_ Akali,” Evelynn whispers, her gaze sharp, diving into her own and peering into her soul. “Promise me you won’t falter.” Her free hand travels to Akali’s neck, her thumb resting underneath her collarbone, just above her sternum.

Akali swallows. Her gaze is solid, resolute, speaking a thousand words that she doesn’t dare to utter in this open temple. “I promise.”

Evelynn digs her nail into Akali’s chest, and drags it downward. Akali stays there, staring, unflinching despite the pain that starts to course through her body, unbeknownst to the situation around her where demons are howling and cursing and _damning_ Evelynn’s name.

 _There will be a murder_ , Evelynn knows; but she’s prepared herself for that ages ago.

_...As for Akali?_

Evelynn looks down at the hardened expression she wears, still looking up at her obediently.

_...She won’t ever be ready._

* * *

“Mortal girls aren’t supposed to be warriors,” Evelynn mentions after she rests her chin on Akali’s stomach. Akali flinches a little, curses under her breath as the action pulls a bit painfully at her side. The wound burns with an intensity that makes her briefly see stars for a moment, reminding her of today’s negligence, but so does Evelynn’s pride, still stinging for not being fast enough to stop the blow.

( _The sound of his grotesque sobbing, his ear-piercing shrieking — it was music to her ears_ ).

“You’re sitting in front of one right now,” Akali counters, eyes creased slightly in pain, but there’s no bitter sharpness in her tone, no veiled aggression in her words.

“Well then,” she replies, tracing the bloodstained skin under Akali’s eye. “I suppose you’re just an exception.”

Akali shifts around in the cotton bed a little, wincing with her movements but finally getting into a more comfortable position. Her eyes become a little distant for a brief moment, then a few seconds, and almost half a minute and Evelynn thinks that something might have happened to her —

“Why?”

Evelynn has to blink once, then twice, to realize that the cloudiness is just a layer of tears forming at the edges of Akali’s eyes. She tries to close them before any fall, but one manages to slip out and create a luminescent streak down the side of her cheek.

“Why me, Evelynn?” Akali echoes again, only opening her eyes once she’s sure that all of the tears have disappeared.

It’s deathly quiet for almost several minutes. Akali can’t quite see Evelynn’s face, so she turns her head slightly and notices the way her brows furrow in not concentration, but something along the lines of...worry?  
  
“I —“ Evelynn says, but she hesitates. There’s another pause, though this one much shorter, before she starts speaking again. “— I never... _understood_ that myself.” Her lips close and open four times; then, she finally starts to talk once more. “I stayed, at first, because your melancholia was enough to satiate any roaring hunger that may try to consume me.”

Their eyes find each others'. “At least, that’s what I told myself when I came back each time, not with a need for your sorrows, but a desire for something else.” Evelynn’s hand instinctively finds that line on Akali’s chest, tiny but noticeable with how a deep crimson is starting to tint the skin. “I’d come and leave, feeling hungrier than ever, but never for your pain — never for your anguish. There was always something hollow within me, and I could never figure it out what it was or how to fill it.”

“I thought it was because I desired your powers,” she continues, thumb lightly stroking the scar. “I thought it was because I wanted to be the one you chose, that I wanted to be the one that won this silly little race. I thought it was because you kept denying me, and then yourself, and then this and that and then your dreams and your destiny —” Evelynn breathes in, albeit a bit sharply, eyes suddenly vacant before they’re flooded with warmth.

“You were so...inanimate,” she whispers. Her head rises to stare down at Akali. “On the first day that we met, I didn’t even notice that you were there — I mistook you for a statue, a broken doll, _nothing_ at all — and then you appeared, and…”

“You…” Akali searches her eyes, trying to figure out what pages she’s trying to read, what sentences she’s trying to write, what melodies that she wants to sing. “...You surprised me. You were a refreshing take on the world when all I knew were the cries of my victims and my aimless wandering. And — and I thought, ‘why not? I've been given something new to play with — I know better than to discard it for the old.’ So, I stayed. And I haven’t looked back at all.”

At first, Akali doesn’t say anything — she simply watches Evelynn’s expression change from warmth, to a passing figure of regret, and finally its original curious stage.

“...You haven’t charmed me, have you?” Akali asks, and for the first time, she relishes in the way the corners of Evelynn’s eyes crease, the way her lips curve upwards, the sound of that  _tantalizing_ laughter ringing in the room of this inn.

“No, my little _xiǎo lóng_ ,” Evelynn murmurs, her head leaning forwards until they can feel each others’ breathes dance across the surface of their lips and chins. “I would never.”

* * *

“Now?” she asks, again, after every fight, after every moment where they’re out of breath, both of their hearts racing, in sync with each others’ tempos, the idea of  _always_ sounding in their heads. A bloody lasher curls its way around Akali’s leg, and the thought of shaking it off doesn’t even reach her mind.

Instead, she leans into the touch, allowing Evelynn to rest her forehead against hers. “Eve — you already know the answer.”

* * *

This was inevitable, she knows. But she doubts that anyone, not even someone like Evelynn, who prides herself on being all-knowing and aware, could have guessed that it would've occurred in this manner.

The Blood Moon does not create its demons with the idea of flooding the world with them — it creates them with a specific intent in mind. They all have certain duties to do, specific jobs and goals laid out for them. And, like always, they either succeed or fail in their mission, and are rewarded or punished accordingly. Never once has a demon gone off its predetermined path; they may have selfish desires and personal wishes, but they all do what they were made to do in the end.

Evelynn didn’t think she did anything wrong.

At least, that’s what she told herself, when she was holding, caring for the resting form of a human, a mortal, an individual that dared to speak back against the Blood Moon.

The demons were suspected — who wouldn’t go after her, murder in their minds, with the goal of taking the once-untameable _Hēi lóng_ for themselves? She fought them off, day by day; none of them were particularly strong, and even the greater ones were still no match for her. The only ones that ever stood a chance at defeating her had no interest in acquiring a host, for they were already too powerful themselves.

(She was like that, once: naïve but conceited, wrinkling her nose at every mortal host that offered their bodies to her.)

Wherever the girl stepped, so did she: Evelynn followed without a second thought, almost as if she were the loyal dog herself and not the other way around. She would never hesitate, not even in the face of the demons that kept her up all night, trying to find them, trying to kill something that would never die and capture something that would never be contained —

So when the day did come, when the Blood Moon had risen and the skies were tainted crimson, and Akali had told Evelynn to stay inside and wait for her while she went to run some errands, knowing full well that she would not listen to her —

 

— she fell.

 

She thought she would have more time — that’s all she ever wanted. Evelynn knew she was pushing her luck, the rules, all the boundaries and more, but she was — she _is_ — not much better than the other selfish creatures that inhabit this world. Day by day, she’d stay at that girl’s side, an omniscient presence lingering around her shoulders no matter where she went. She left a part of herself with her just because she was so trusting in her own abilities, so foolish to believe that she was unattainable, unreachable, untouchable.

All of these acts that she pulled were dares, taunts, her chanting  _come and get me if you can_. She reeked of hubris, sending other neighbouring evils into frenzies and madnesses, hoping to prove something that never even existed in the first place. She knew the Blood Moon could smell them — her sneers and insults — and she knew that beckoning a god such as it would surely result in her demise, but she had always thought it would take so much longer for it to react.

That moment, that night of the millionth Blood Moon — she couldn’t react in time.

A spear, sparkling with a radiant cardinal energy, pierced through her side. Then came another, and another, until finally her waist could hold no more and they were sharply withdrawn with such a violent noise that even the ravens flew away, afraid, terrified.

“Ordained by the Blood Moon itself,” resonated a thousand voices in one — a demon, face hidden away by an ivory mask with two large, curved horns and an alabaster mane swaying in the wind behind her. “Know your treachery, seductress — you dare turn your back on your kin and seek refuge with the Disgraced.” Dirt and rocks crunched underneath cold steel. The raspy, wispy gasps and groans reach her eyes, faint in the world but grating in her ears.

“There is no justice for those that run, Evelynn,” she hissed, throwing a spear that lands right in front of her nose. “Not when you run with cowards.” The spear vanishes, its light fading into the wind, and the demon turns its back, metal armor clinking against each other like a haunting tune, harmonized by the crisp whistle of the wind. All Evelynn can do is laugh, laugh at the irony of the situation and laugh at the onslaught that would soon befall them.

So she does, watching the world lose its reddish tint, watches it return to the sombre, desaturated state it was in before. She watches the remnants of colour leave, watches as the shrill of the wind vanishes, watches the clouds swallow up the moon so its light may never shine on her once more.

And so, she laughs, cries, _waits_.

* * *

“Eve,” Akali breathes out.

She dashes and falls to her knees, landing in front of Evelynn’s head, her mask — _their_ mask — tumbling to the ground beside them. With shaky hands, she gingerly rolls her body from her side and onto her back. Soon, Akali notices the gaping wound on her side, notices the soft blue ichor that flows from her waist and trickles down her face from the corner of her eye, notices how her ivory skin is somehow paler than it should be, and reaches for the wounds with her left hand —

— only to be stopped by Evelynn’s own.

Evelynn’s eyes flicker open weakly. They’ve lost their usual iridescent glow; they’re crooked, foreign, and seemingly so far away from her even though she’s right here. Akali leans forward slightly, until her hair provides a feeble curtain as if to block any unwanted gazes from any passing ghouls. She rests their hands on the ground, after feeling Evelynn’s grasp loosen.

“Eve —” Akali murmurs again, but her voice comes out hoarse, crackling. She clears her throat and tries again: “— Evelynn… what — what happened?”

She’s rewarded with an ever-familiar smile that is too, too faint, faltering after a few brief moments. Akali watches as Evelynn tries to raise her right hand, stares as it hovers in the air but wavers, and she grabs it to press it against her cheek.

“We… bit more than we could chew,” Evelynn says, letting out an airy laugh afterwards, but her voice is frayed at the seams, splintering apart at the edges.

The midnight breeze washes over them, but Evelynn can barely feel it. Akali shivers in place for her, shaking, maybe no longer from the cold but from this fury that builds up inside her. It bites at heart, drowns her from the inside out, until she’s suffocating on nothing, choking, trembling to convey all the things that she cannot say. Her head falls until her forehead rests on Evelynn’s chest, shining with sweat despite the frigid temperatures of the night.

“Please,” Akali begs, cries, almost _sobs_ into her shoulder. A few tears escape her closed eyes, running down her cheeks and coming to rest on stone-cold skin. “Stop — stop it.” She weeps, trying to still her body but only further agitating it in the process. Her grip on Evelynn’s hands tighten to the point where her bones could break, but neither would ever notice, and her body jolts upward —

“ _STOP IT!_ ” she screams. “ _Stop_ — stop using your magic on me! Stop it! It’s been here since we first met — since that godforsken night — and it has never left, and you _said_ you wouldn’t! You said so!” All Evelynn can do is watch her cry, and cry, and cry, watch as her eyes screw shut from the raging pain she feels coursing through her body, whimpering in anguish.

(Or is it from a fear of opening them?)

The hand she holds to her her cheek falls onto the ground, landing awkwardly beside Evelynn’s uninjured side. Her cries soon die down, and Akali’s left as a bumbling, babbling mess. “— please, Evelynn, get — get rid of this charm on me, I am _begging_ you —” she mewls pathetically, rubbing away at the tears with her now-free hand, trying to get them to stop, the tears, the pain, _anything_ , even just for a moment. “— please, stop... stop it. I... I — I hate this pain, I hate feeling this vulnerable, I hate being this _weak_ , Eve, I —”

Evelynn shushes her with a noise before she can ramble further, and Akali opens her eyes to look at her one more time. Her expression tells a solemn tale but her heart sings one of candor.

“Darling,” she murmurs, eyes starting to fall. “I would _never_ put one on you, not again.”

Her grip on Evelynn’s hand tightens, a symbol of acceptance, a symbol of forgiveness, of apologies, whispering _I’m sorry_ and _I know you wouldn’t,_ and _I just can’t handle the truth._ Her eyes burn and so does her chest, her heart screeching its own lyrical cacophony in absolute bitter silence. She tries to speak, tries to at least get a feeble apology out, because she wants Evelynn to hear her singing and not crying before she goes. All she can get out, though, is a meager croak, a plea of desperation in her eyes, telling her _go, hurry, I can’t take this anymore, please —_

“Find them,” Evelynn suddenly whispers, eyes growing intense despite the shadows that cloud them. “And make them _suffer_.”

All Akali can do is nod, eyes wide, an earthly silence at her lips.

Evelynn smiles toothily at all the words her eyes tell. “My little dragon,” she mumbles, before a bout of guttural, bubbly laughter overcomes her. Even creased with pain, her eyes still somehow radiates warmth, yearning — _ecstasy_.

Her hold on Akali’s hand loosens completely; her voice eventually ceases its tittering.

“Was I...worth it?”

She watches her chest rise, stilling for the briefest of seconds, and fall for a final time.

Soon, the solemn blue glow grows brighter, so bright that Akali’s eyes begin to burn from the harshness of it, but she forces herself to look and watch as Evelynn’s form fades away into trails of scarlet red smoke and dots of lavender blue light. She forces herself to look and watch as the glow dissipates to reveal an empty stretch of land in front of her, no longer marred by her blood and body. She forces herself to look and watch as her vision becomes blurry, becomes clouded with fear and grief and most importantly _pain_ , a bloodied grasp finding its way around her mind, a ghastly crimson shading the world upside down until finally, _finally_ , she can let herself watch it turn everything all the right ways around.

The words are unspoken, but they’re there.

 _We were always worthy_.

* * *

_darling, look:_

_maybe i shouldn't call you "darling" anymore. maybe i should call you by your name but i damn well don't want to. because you were – you_ are  _– more than just a name. maybe you weren’t the goddess; maybe you weren’t the angel. maybe some days i shouted your name out loud and cursed you as the devil. maybe some days you were the monster i thought lurked under my bed. maybe some days..._

_maybe some days, you were a name._

_something to call out, to scream, to cry, to damn, to_ beg _for —_

 _— but you were never_ just _a name._

_you were my everything; you were my anchor, my demons, the juliet to my romeo. you were my first true love, my last heartbreak, and all the blessings and obscenities in between. you showed me your imperfections and i tore out my heart to fill you with more affection. you taught me how to love and now you’re going to teach me how to let go._

_in no way were you –_ will _you – just be a name to me, darling:_

 _you were always so,_ so _much more._

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is based off of [this drawing](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DzGjkuzVsAYX1qX.jpg:large) by [suqling](https://twitter.com/suqling), if you haven't seen it yet please go check it out!
> 
> i chose mandarin (japanese was my other option) mainly because i (sort of) know how to speak and write mandarin, and i didn't want to risk using google translate for japanese. the nickname black dragon (hēi lóng) was picked in reference to the dragon on akali's blood moon splash art. i would have used red dragon, since akali's most prominent colour is red, but it doesn't really sound or look that nice to me (hóng lóng). as well, i used little/small dragon (xiǎo lóng) because honestly i just really like the name. i would've used it as her main one though if it wasn't so similar to another character's name...
> 
> follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/sxvrba) where you can find me drawing and/or talk to me about k/da and other league shit (but mainly k/da) : )
> 
> i plan on drawing some scenes for the final part to help clarify the ending later, but i'm still not sure whether it's going to be an actual comic or not. i'll update the fic & post it on twitter/tumblr though when i do get to it!
> 
> edit: fixed the tags!  
> also there's a bunch of easter eggs in here, including a few references to a couple of fics i've read. try finding them! :^)


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